the cost of clothing, airline tickets and medical care all increased. that pushed up the core rate and that is the one fthat the fed really looks at. i should add contessa keeping a continued lid on the core rate was just a 0.1% rise in the equivalent of rent. apartment vacancies continue to drop and landlords are getting pricing power. it is not yet showing up in this data. there was some good news that predicts a drop in gas prices this summer. yeah. here is to hoping, huh? though there are lots of wild cards here. i want to put in caveats because we re watching the flooding closely along the mississippi river and what that could do to take out refinery capacity. at this stage, some forecasters say perhaps by this weekend, the price of regular grade gasoline could be as much as 10 cents a gallon lower. by memorial day, another 20